For that purpose it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,505 to provide on the fitting or removal tool a sensing device in the form of a projection, for example of plastic material, which senses the radial outside surface (wheel rim well). That ensures that, in the tyre fitting or removal operation, the tool is held at a given spacing from the surface of the rim and the surface of the rim is not damaged by the hard material of the tool.
For that purpose it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,505 to provide on the fitting or removal tool a sensing device in the form of a projection, for example of plastic material, which senses the radial outside surface (wheel rim well). That ensures that, in the tyre fitting or removal operation, the tool is held at a given spacing from the surface of the rim and the surface of the rim is not damaged by the hard material of the tool.
It is further known from DE 25 29 343 B2 for the tyre fitting or removal tool to be moved along a control surface, which ensures that the tool is guided along the rim contour in the wheel rim well. In that case different control surfaces have to be provided, depending on the various wheel types involved.
It is further known from US 2004/0165180 A1 for one or more optical images of a wheel portion to be acquired by means of an imaging sensor device and in dependence thereon for service operations to be carried out on the vehicle wheel, for example by means of a tyre change system.
In the known methods and the known apparatuses, the movement of the at least one tyre fitting or removal tool is controlled in dependence on the contour or the geometrical configuration of the rim flange and the outside peripheral surface of the rim. In that case the tool performs relatively complicated movements in dependence on the various corrections concerned, in relation to the respective wheel types.